Woman moves Delhi HC over delay in genome test report of her Covid+ son

According to the plea, the 18-year-old arrived at the Delhi airport from one of the “at-risk” countries and tested positive for Covid-19. He has been in isolation at a private hospital since December 25 morning, the plea said.

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Wednesday sought the response of the Centre and the city government on a plea by a woman who sought to know the outcome of the genome sequencing test of her Covid positive son.

A woman has filed a petition in the Delhi high court seeking to know the result of a genome sequencing test done on her son after he tested Covid positive. Her son arrived from an ‘at risk’ country. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo/Representative only)

The petitioner added that her son was not being discharged by a private hospital for the lack of clarity on the virus variant.

According to the plea, the 18-year-old arrived at the Delhi airport from one of the “at-risk” countries and tested positive for Covid-19. He has been in isolation at a private hospital since December 25 morning, the plea said.

Justice Jyoti Singh said the protocols imposed by the authorities ought to be followed, but the petitioner was entitled to know the genome test result as it was not a “national secret”.

“They (governments) have to tell who has done the genome sequencing and when the report is going to come. The court will ensure that it comes to you (mother) and for that, we have to give them a day’s time… It’s your son and his genome sequencing. Why shouldn’t you know it? I don’t understand if there is any national secret in that,” the judge told the petitioner.

The court issued notices and granted time to the counsels for the two governments to seek instructions.

The judge said that the court expected both the governments to inform “what has happened to the genomic testing; who is doing it; where is the report and when will the report come”.

The Centre’s counsel said the Delhi government was “managing the whole scenario”, and the Delhi government counsel stated that it was “not clear from the petition” as to who carried out the genome test.

The matter will now be heard on December 31.

“There is a boy in the hospital for the past couple of days. You have to tell the court what happens to your genomic testing. You are right, these are the guidelines. Protocols have to be followed. These are good things but at the end of the day, she wants to know where my genomic testing report is because my child is being kept in the hospital to await the outcome of the report. She is entitled to say that and entitled to know that,” the court said.

The counsel for the petitioner informed the court that upon the arrival at the Delhi international airport from one of the at-risk countries, the son tested positive for the virus and then a second swab was collected by the authorities for genome sequencing but no “lab reference number” was provided to enable the patients to track the report.

The petitioner, who was present in person, claimed that her son was in isolation at a private hospital since the morning of December 25 and was not being discharged to await the result of the genome sequencing test.

She claimed that in spite of her son being a mild case of COVID-19, the private hospital was not re-testing him.

Following this, the court asked both the Centre and the Delhi government to resolve the issue and tell the court as to who had taken the swab for conducting the genome test.

“I’m not meddling with your guidelines and protocol. I’m not interfering in anything else. My only concern as a court … (is) when children are coming from foreign countries, they are anxious and their parents are anxious,” the court responded.

The court also asked the authorities to inform it about the status of the petitioner’s son’s COVID-19 re-test, if any.